Physical properties

Size and shape. The diamond has been compared in size and shape to a pigeon egg,[2]walnut,[10] a "good sized horse chestnut"[11] which is "pear shaped."[11] The dimensions in terms of length, width, and depth are 25.60mm × 21.78mm × 12.00mm (1in × 7/8in × 15/32in).[9]

Color. It has been described as having a "fancy dark greyish-blue"[9] as well as being "dark blue in color"[11] or having a "steely-blue" color.[12] As colored diamond expert Stephen Hofer points out, blue diamonds similar to the Hope can be shown by colorimetric measurements to be grayer (lower in saturation) than blue sapphires.[13] In 1996, the Gemological Institute of America's Gem Trade Lab examined the diamond and, using their proprietary scale, graded it fancy deep grayish blue.[14] Visually, the gray modifier (mask) is so dark (indigo) that it produces an "inky" effect appearing almost blackish-blue in incandescent light.[15] Current photographs of the Hope Diamond utilize high-intensity light sources that tend to maximize the brilliance of gemstones.[16] In popular literature, many superlatives have been used to describe the Hope Diamond as a "superfine deep blue", often comparing it to the color of a fine sapphire "blue of the most beautiful blue sapphire" (Deulafait), and describing its color as "a sapphire blue".[15][17][18] Tavernier had described it as a "beautiful violet".[9]

Emits a red glow. The stone exhibits an unusually intense and strongly colored type of luminescence: after exposure to short-wave ultraviolet light, the diamond produces a brilliant red phosphorescence ('glow-in-the-dark' effect) that persists for some time after the light source has been switched off, and this strange quality may have helped fuel "its reputation of being cursed."[2] The red glow helps scientists "fingerprint" blue diamonds, allowing them to "tell the real ones from the artificial."[4] The red glow indicates that a different mix of boron and nitrogen is within the stone, according to Jeffrey Post in the journal Geology.[4]

People typically think of the Hope Diamond as a historic gem, but this study underscores its importance as a rare scientific specimen that can provide vital insights into our knowledge of diamonds and how they are formed in the earth.

Clarity. The clarity was determined to be VS1, with whitish graining present.[9]

Cut. The cut was described as being "cushion antique brilliant with a faceted girdle and extra facets on the pavilion."[9]

Chemical composition. In 2010, the diamond was removed from its setting in order to scientifically measure its chemical composition; after boring a hole one nanometre (four-billionths of an inch) deep, preliminary results detected the presence of boron, hydrogen and possibly nitrogen; the boron concentration varies from zero to eight parts per million.[19] According to Smithsonian curator Dr. Jeffrey Post, the element boron may be responsible for causing the blue color of the stones after tests using infrared light measured a chemical spectrum of the gems.[20]

Touch and feel. When Associated Press reporter Ron Edmonds was allowed by Smithsonian officials to hold the gem in his hand in 2003, he wrote that the first thought that had come into his mind was: "Wow".[20] It was described as "cool to the touch."[20] He wrote:

You cradle the 45.5-carat stone — about the size of a walnut and heavier than its translucence makes it appear — turning it from side to side as the light flashes from its facets, knowing it's the hardest natural material yet fearful of dropping it.

Hardness. Diamonds in general, including the Hope Diamond, are considered to be the hardest natural element on the Earth, but because of diamond's crystalline structure, there are weak planes in the bonds which permit jewelers to slice a diamond and, in so doing, to cause it to sparkle by refracting light in different ways.[21] However, there have been reports in October 2011 that researchers at Stanford University have created an even harder man-made substance called an amorphous diamond by using ultrahigh pressure conditions to create a non-crystalline structure which lacks the weak planes.[21][22]

History

Hollywood couldn't make up a drama like the story of the Hope Diamond. It's a fantastic mix of jaw-dropping beauty, mythic curse, untold wealth, larger-than-life characters and cutting-edge science.

Geological beginnings

The Hope Diamond was formed deep within the Earth approximately 1.1 billion years ago.[23] It was made from carbon atoms to form strong bonds making it a diamond.[23] It became embedded with kimberlite but eroded by wind and rain, resulting in its placement among gravel deposits.[23] The first known diamond mine was in the Golconda region of India, although by 1725 diamonds had been discovered in Brazil.[23] The Hope Diamond contains trace amount of boron atoms intermixed with the carbon structure, which results in the blue color of the diamond, according to the Smithsonian.[23]

India

Tavernier's original sketch of the Tavernier Blue

Cubic zirconia replica of the Tavernier Blue

Several accounts, based on remarks written by the gem's first known owner, French gem merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier, suggest the gemstone originated in India, in the Kollur mine in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh (which at the time had been part of the Golconda kingdom), in the seventeenth century.[24][25][26] It is unclear who had initially owned the gemstone, whether it had been found, by whom, and in what condition. But the first historical records suggest that a French merchant-traveler named Jean-Baptiste Tavernier obtained the stone, possibly by purchase[12] or by theft,[17] and he brought a large uncut stone to Paris which was the first known precursor to the Hope Diamond. This large stone became known as the Tavernier Blue diamond. It was a crudely cut triangular shaped stone of 115 carats (23 g).[11] Another estimate is that it weighed 112.23 carats (22.45 g) before it was cut.[17] Tavernier's book, the Six Voyages (French: Le Six Voyages de...), contains sketches of several large diamonds that he sold to Louis XIV in possibly 1668[2] or 1669; while the blue diamond is shown among these, Tavernier mentions the mines at "Gani" Kollur as a source of colored diamonds, but made no direct mention of the stone. Historian Richard Kurin builds a highly speculative case for 1653 as the year of acquisition,[27] but the most that can be said with certainty is that Tavernier obtained the blue diamond during one of his five voyages to India between the years 1640 and 1667. One report suggests he took 25 diamonds to Paris, including the large rock which became the Hope, and sold all of them to King Louis XIV.[28] Another report suggested that in 1669, Tavernier sold this large blue diamond along with approximately one thousand other diamonds to King Louis XIV of France for 220,000 livres, the equivalent of 147 kilograms of pure gold.[11][29] In a newly published historical novel, The French Blue, gemologist and historian Richard W. Wise proposed that the patent of nobility granted Tavernier by Louis XIV was a part of the payment for the Tavernier Blue. According to the theory, during that period Colbert, the king's Finance Minister, regularly sold offices and noble titles for cash, and an outright patent of nobility, according to Wise, was worth approximately 500,000 livres making a total of 720,000 livres, a price much closer to the true value of the gem.[30] There has been some controversy regarding the actual weight of the stone; Morel believed that the 1123⁄16 carats[17] stated in Tavernier's invoice would be in old French carats, thus 115.28 metric carats.

France

In 1678, Louis XIV commissioned the court jeweller, Sieur Pitau, to recut the Tavernier Blue, resulting in a 67.125-carat (13.425 g) stone[9] which royal inventories thereafter listed as the Blue Diamond of the Crown of France (diamant bleu de la Couronne de France[31]), but later English-speaking historians have simply called it the French Blue. The king had the stone set on a cravat-pin.[32] According to one report, Louis ordered Pitau[33] to "make him a piece to remember", and Pitau took two years on the piece, resulting in a "triangular-shaped 69-carat gem the size of a pigeon's egg that took the breath away as it snared the light, reflecting it back in bluish-grey rays."[12] It was set in gold and was supported by a ribbon for the neck which was worn by the king during ceremonies.[9]

At the diamond's dazzling heart was a sun with seven facets––the sun being Louis' emblem, and seven being a number rich in meaning in biblical cosmology, indicating divinity and spirituality.

In 1749, Louis' descendant, King Louis XV, had the French Blue set into a more elaborate jewelled pendant for the Order of the Golden Fleece by court jeweler Andre Jacquemin.[9] The assembled piece included a red spinel of 107 carats shaped as a dragon breathing "covetous flames", as well as 83 red-painted diamonds and 112 yellow-painted diamonds to suggest a fleece shape.[12] But the piece fell into disuse after the death of Louis XV. The diamond became the property of his grandson King Louis XVI.[11] During the reign of her husband, Marie Antoinette used many French Crown Jewels for personal adornment by having the individual gems placed into new settings and combinations, but the French Blue remained in this pendant except for a brief time in 1787, when the stone was removed for scientific study by Mathurin Jacques Brisson and returned to its setting soon thereafter. On September 11, 1792,[34] while Louis XVI and his family were confined in the Palais des Tuileries near the Place de la Concorde[12] during the early stages of the French Revolution, a group of thieves broke into the Garde-Meuble (Royal Storehouse) and stole most of the Crown Jewels during a five-day looting spree by a gang in September 1792.[12] While many jewels were later recovered, including other pieces of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the French Blue was not among them and it disappeared temporarily from history.[2] In 1793, Louis was guillotined in January and Marie was guillotined in October, and these beheadings are commonly cited as a result of the diamond's "curse", but the historical record suggests that Marie Antoinette had never worn the Golden Fleece pendant because it had been reserved for the exclusive use of the king.[citation needed]

A likely scenario is that the French Blue or sometimes also known as the Blue Diamond[12] was "swiftly smuggled to London" after being seized in 1792 in Paris.[12] But the exact rock known as the French Blue was never seen again, since it almost certainly was recut during this decades-long period of anonymity,[12] probably into two pieces, and the larger one became the Hope Diamond. One report suggested that the cut was a "butchered job" because it sheared off 23.5 carats from the larger rock as well as hurting its "extraordinary lustre."[12] It had long been believed that the Hope Diamond had been cut from the French Blue[35] until confirmation finally happened when a three-dimensional leaden model of the latter was recently[when?] rediscovered in the archives of the French Natural History Museum in Paris. Previously, the dimensions of the French Blue had been known only from two drawings made in 1749 and 1789; although the model slightly differs from the drawings in some details, these details are identical to features of the Hope Diamond, allowing CAD technology to digitally reconstruct the French Blue around the recut stone.[36][37] Historians suggested that one robber, Cadet Guillot, took several jewels including the French Blue as well as the Côte-de-Bretagne Spinel and others to Le Havre and then to London, where the French Blue was cut into two pieces. Morel adds that in 1796, Guillot attempted to resell the Côte-de-Bretagne in France but was forced to relinquish it to a fellow thief, Lancry de la Loyelle, who put Guillot into debtors' prison.

In a contrasting report, historian Richard Kurin speculated that the "theft" of the French Crown Jewels was in fact engineered by the revolutionary leader Georges Danton as part of a plan to bribe an opposing military commander, Duke Karl Wilhelm of Brunswick.[12] When under attack by Napoleon in 1805, Karl Wilhelm may have had the French Blue recut to disguise its identity; in this form, the stone could have come to Britain in 1806, when his family fled there to join his daughter Caroline of Brunswick. Although Caroline was the wife of the Prince Regent George (later George IV of the United Kingdom), she lived apart from her husband, and financial straits sometimes forced her to quietly sell her own jewels to support her household. Caroline's nephew, Duke Karl Friedrich, was later known to possess a 13.75-carat (2.75 g) blue diamond which was widely thought to be another piece of the French Blue. However, this smaller diamond's present whereabouts are unknown, and the recent CAD reconstruction of the French Blue fits too tightly around the Hope Diamond to allow for the existence of such a sister stone.

United Kingdom

A blue diamond with the same shape, size, and color as the Hope Diamond was recorded by John Francillon in the possession of the London diamond merchant Daniel Eliason in September 1812, the earliest point when the history of the Hope Diamond can be definitively fixed,[9][12] although a second less definitive report suggests that the Hope Diamond's "authentic history" can only be traced back to 1830.[35] The rock was a "massive blue stone of 45.54 carats".[12] It weighed 177 grains (4 grains = 1 carat).[9] It is often pointed out that this date was almost exactly 20 years after the theft of the French Blue, just as the statute of limitations for the crime had expired.[12] While the diamond had disappeared for several decades, there were questions whether this recovered diamond in Britain was the same as had belonged to the French king, but subsequent scientific investigation in 2008 confirmed "beyond reasonable doubt" that the Hope Diamond and that owned by the French king were, in fact, the same gemstone in the sense that the Hope Diamond had been cut from the same material as the French Blue.[9][12]

King George IV.

There is speculation that George's wife, Caroline of Brunswick, may have helped procure the diamond for the British monarch, but records are incomplete.

There are conflicting reports about what happened to the diamond during these years. Eliason's diamond may have been acquired by King George IV of the United Kingdom,[2] possibly via Caroline of Brunswick;[12] however there is no record of the ownership in the Royal Archives at Windsor, but some secondary evidence exists in the form of contemporary writings and artwork, and George IV tended to co-mingle the state property of the Crown Jewels with family heirlooms and his own personal property. A source at the Smithsonian suggested there were "several references" suggesting that the British king did, indeed, own the diamond.[9] After the king's death in 1830, it has been alleged that some of this mixed collection was stolen by his mistress, Lady Conyngham, and some of his remaining personal items were discreetly liquidated to cover the many debts he had left behind him. A conflicting report is that the king's debts were "so enormous" that the diamond was likely sold through "private channels."[9] In either case, the blue diamond was not retained by the British royal family.

There was a report that the gemstone was bought by a wealthy London banker named Henry Thomas Hope for either $65,000[11] or $90,000.[17] After falling under the ownership of the Hope family, and remaining in its possession for more than half a century, it came to be known officially as the "Hope Diamond".[11] There was a report that Eliason may have been a "front" for Hope,[12] acting not as a diamond merchant but rather as an agent to acquire the diamond for the banker. In 1839, the Hope Diamond appeared in a published catalog of the gem collection of Henry Philip Hope who was a member of the prominent Anglo-Dutch banking family.[9] The stone was set in a fairly simple medallion surrounded by many smaller white diamonds, which he sometimes lent to Louisa Beresford, the widow of his brother, his nephew Henry Thomas Hope, for society balls. Henry Philip Hope died in 1839, the same year as the publication of his collection catalog. His three nephews, the sons of his brother Thomas, fought in court for ten years over his inheritance, and ultimately the collection was split up.

The oldest nephew, Henry Thomas Hope, received eight of the most valuable gems including the Hope Diamond. It was displayed in the Great Exhibition of London in 1851 and Paris Exhibition Universelle in 1855, but was usually kept in a bank vault. In 1861, his only child, Henrietta, married Henry Pelham-Clinton, Earl of Lincoln. When Hope died on December 4, 1862, his wife Anne Adele inherited the gem, but feared that the profligate lifestyle of her son-in-law, the 6th Duke of Newcastle, might cause him to sell the Hope properties. Upon Adele's death in 1884, the entire Hope estate, including the Hope diamond, was entrusted to Henrietta's younger son, Henry Francis, on the condition that he change his surname when he reached legal majority. As Lord Francis Hope, this grandson received his legacy in 1887. However, Francis had only a life interest to his inheritance, meaning he could not sell any part of it without court permission.

Francis Hope met American concert hall singer May Yohé[38] who had been described as "the sensation of two continents in 1894".[11] She became his mistress; they married in 1894; one account suggested that Yohe wore the Hope diamond at one point.[11] She later claimed she had worn the diamond at social gatherings and had an exact replica made for her performances, but he claimed otherwise. Lord Francis lived beyond his means, and it eventually caught up with him, leading to marriage troubles, financial reverses, and he found that he had to sell the diamond.[11] In 1896, his bankruptcy was discharged, but, as he could not sell the Hope Diamond without the court's permission, he was supported by his wife during these intervening years. In 1901, the financial situation had changed and after a "long legal fight,"[28] he was free to sell the Hope Diamond by an "order of the Master in Chancery"[28] to "pay off debts,"[12] But May Yohe ran off with a rival named Putnam Strong, who was the son of the former New York City mayor William L. Strong. Francis Hope and May Yohe were divorced in 1902.[11]

Lord Francis sold the diamond for £29,000 (£2,245,350 as of 2011),[39] to Adolph Weil, a London jewel merchant. Weil later sold the stone to a New York-based or London-based[11] (accounts differ) diamond dealer Simon Frankel, who took it to New York.[28] There, it was evaluated to be worth $141,032 (equal to £28,206 at the time).

United States (1902-present)

Accounts vary about what happened to the diamond during the years 1902-1907; one account suggested that it lay in the Frankel safe during these years while the jewelers took it out periodically to show it to wealthy Americans; a rival account, probably invented to help add "mystery" to the Hope Diamond story, suggested that some persons had bought it but apparently sold it back to Frankel.[11] There were reports in one story in The New York Times of several owners of the gem, perhaps who had bought it from Frankel and owned it temporarily who met with ill-fortune, but this report conflicts with the more likely possibility that the gem remained in the hands of the Frankel jewelry firm during these years. Like many jewelry firms, the Frankel business ran into financial difficulties during the depression of 1907 and referred to the gem as the "hoodoo diamond."[11]

In 1908, Frankel sold the diamond for $400,000[40] to a Salomon or Selim Habib, a wealthy Turkish diamond collector,[41] reportedly in behalf of Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey; however, on June 24, 1909, the stone was included in an auction of Habib's assets to settle his own debts,[9] and the auction catalog explicitly stated that the Hope Diamond was one of only two gems in the collection which had never been owned by the Sultan. A contrary report, however, suggested that Sultan Hamid did own the gem but ordered Habib to sell it when his throne "began to totter."[11] Habib reportedly sold the stone in Paris in 1909 for $80,000.[11] The Parisian jewel merchant Simon Rosenau bought the Hope Diamond for 400,000 francs and resold it in 1910 to Pierre Cartier for 550,000 francs. In 1910, it was offered for $150,000, according to one report.[10]

Pierre Cartier tried to sell the Hope Diamond to U.S. socialite based in Washington D.C. named Evalyn Walsh McLean and her husband in 1910,[2] Cartier was a consummate salesman who used an understated presentation to try to entice the Washington-based socialite.[42] He described the gem's illustrious history to her while keeping it concealed underneath special wrapping paper.[42] The suspense worked: McLean became impatient to the point where she suddenly requested to see the stone. And she recalled later that Cartier "held before our eyes the Hope Diamond."[42] Nevertheless, she initially rejected the offer perhaps because of her distaste for the Hope family's old setting. Cartier had it reset, and she found the stone much more appealing in this new modern style, and stories about its supposed "cursed" effects may have helped persuade her and her husband to buy it. There were conflicting reports about the sale in the New York Times; one account suggested that the young McLean couple had agreed to purchase the diamond, but after having learned about its unfortunate supposed history, the couple had wanted to back out of the deal[43] since they knew nothing of the "history of misfortunes that have beset its various owners."[43]

Both Ned McLean and his pretty wife are quite young, and in a way unsophisticated, although they were born and reared in an atmosphere of wealth and luxury. All their lives they have known more of jewelry, finery, banquets, automobiles, horses, and other articles of pleasure than they have of books, with their wealth of knowledge.

The brouhaha over the diamond's supposed "ill luck" prompted a worried editor of The Jewelers' Circular-Weekly to write:

No mention of any ill luck having befalled Eliason, Hope, or any of their descendants was ever made. The Frankels surely were very prosperous while the stone was in their possession, as were the dealers who held it in Europe. Habib's misfortune refereed to in the newspaper accounts occurred long after he had sold the stone... As Francis Hope never had the stone and May Yohe probably never saw it ... the newspaper accounts at the time mentioned were laughed at, but since then it has been the custom not only to revive these stories every time mention of the stone appears in the public press, but to add to them fictitious incidents of misfortune as to alleged possessors of the stone at various times.

The tenuous deal involved wrangling among attorneys for both Cartier and the McLeans, but finally, in 1911, the couple bought the gem for over $300,000,[11] although there are differing estimates of the sales price at $150,000 and $180,000. An alternative scenario is that the McLeans may have fabricated concern about the supposed "curse" to generate publicity to increase the value of their investment.

A description was that the gemstone "lay on a bed of white silk and surrounded by many small white diamonds cut pear shaped".[11] The new setting was the current platinum framework surrounded by a row of sixteen diamonds which alternated between Old Mine Cut and pear-shaped variants. Ms. McLean wore it to a "brilliant reception" in February 1912 when it was reported that it was the first time it had been worn in public since it had "changed owners."[44] She would "sport the diamond at social events"[2] and wore it numerous social occasions that she had organized.

The Hope Diamond in its original pendant must have looked fantastic at parties circa the 1920s, when it hung around the neck of owner Evalyn Walsh McLean's Great Dane, Mike.

There were reports that she misplaced it at parties,[46] deliberately and frequently, and then make a children's game out of "finding the Hope", and times when she hid the diamond somewhere on her estate during the "lavish parties she threw and invite guests to find it."[2] The stone prompted elaborate security precautions:

William Schindele, a former Secret Service man, has been engaged to guard the stone. He in turn will be guarded by Leo Costello and Simeon Blake, private detectives. The stone will be kept at the McLean mansion during the day and each night will be deposited in a safe deposit vault. When Mrs. McLean wears the gem at balls and receptions arrangements have been made to keep the safe deposit building open until after the function that the stone may be safely stored away. A special automobile has been purchased to convey the guards to and from the house to the trust company's building.

But the stone was not stolen during their ownership. When Ms. McLean died in 1947, she bequeathed the diamond to her grandchildren through a will which insisted that her former property would remain in the custody of trustees until the eldest child had reached 25 years of age. This requirement would have prevented any sale for the next two decades. However, the trustees gained permission to sell her jewels to settle her debts, and in 1949 sold them to New York diamond merchant Harry Winston. He purchased McLean's "entire jewelry collection".[2] Over the next decade, Winston exhibited McLean's necklace in his "Court of Jewels," a tour of jewels around the United States,[2] as well as various charity balls and the August 1958 Canadian National Exhibition.[8] At some point, he also had the Hope Diamond's bottom facet slightly recut to increase its brilliance.

Smithsonian ownership

The delivery method of the Hope Diamond to the National Museum of Natural History.

Spectators gazing at the Hope Diamond, seen from the rear in its case at the National Gem Collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

Hope Diamond in its new setting.

Smithsonian mineralogist George Switzer is credited with persuading Harry Winston to donate the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for a proposed national gem collection to be housed at the museum.[47] On November 10, 1958,[12] Winston donated the diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, where it became Specimen #217868,[48] sending it through U.S. Mail in a box wrapped in brown paper,[2] insured via registered mail at a cost of $145.29.[2][49] Winston had never believed in any of the tales about the curse; he donated the diamond with the hope that it would help the United States "establish a gem collection."[8] Winston died many years later, in 1978, of a heart attack. Winston's gift, according to Smithsonian curator Dr. Jeffrey Port, helped spur additional gifts to the museum.[20]

For its first four decades in the National Museum of Natural History, the Hope Diamond lay in its necklace inside a glass-fronted safe as part of the gems and jewelry gallery, except for a few brief excursions: a 1962 exhibition to the Louvre;[9] the 1965 Rand Easter Show in Johannesburg, South Africa;[9] and two visits back to Harry Winston's premises in New York City, once in 1984,[9] and once for a 50th anniversary celebration in 1996.[9]

When the Smithsonian's gallery was renovated in 1997, the necklace was moved onto a rotating pedestal inside a cylinder made of 3-inch (76 mm) thick bulletproof glass in its own display room, adjacent to the main exhibit of the National Gem Collection in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals. The Hope Diamond is the most popular jewel on display and the collection's centerpiece.[50] In 1988, specialists with the Gemological Institute of America graded it and noticed "evidence of wear" and its "remarkably strong phosphorescence" with its clarity "slightly affected by a whitish graining which is common to blue diamonds."[9] A highly sensitive colorimeter found tiny traces of a "very slight violet component" which is imperceptible to normal vision.[9]

In 2005, the Smithsonian published a year-long computer-aided geometry research which officially acknowledged that the Hope Diamond is, in fact, part of the stolen French Blue crown jewel.[51]

In 2009, the Smithsonian announced a temporary new setting for the jewel to celebrate a half-century at the National Museum of Natural History. Starting in September 2009, the 45.52-carat (9.10 g) diamond[4] will be exhibited as a stand-alone gem with no setting. It was removed from its setting for cleaning from time to time, but this is the first time it will be on public view by itself. Previously it had been shown in a platinum setting, surrounded by 16 white pear-shaped and cushion-cut diamonds, suspended from a chain containing forty-five diamonds.

On November 18, 2010, the Hope Diamond was unveiled and displayed at the Smithsonian in a temporary newly-designed necklace called "Embracing Hope," created by the Harry Winston firm.[2] Three designs for the new setting, all white diamonds and white metal, were created and the public voted on the final version. The Hope Diamond also is resting on a new dark blue neck form, which the Harry Winston firm commissioned from display organization, Pac Team Group. Previously, the Hope Diamond had been displayed as a loose gem since late summer of 2009 (see above image) when it was removed from its former Cartier-designed setting. A Smithsonian curator described it as "priceless" because it was "irreplaceable", although it was reported to be insured for $250 million.[2] In 2012 the diamond will be returned to its historic setting, and the current necklace will be implanted with another diamond worth "at least a million dollars," and the necklace with the new diamond will be sold to benefit the Smithsonian.[2]

In 2010, the Smithsonian licensed its gem and jewelry collection to create a "line of bracelets, brooches and other baubles" to be sold on the TV shopping network QVC; the jewelry line will not have real diamonds, but will serve as costume jewelry with semiprecious stones, and benefits the museum by being an additional source of revenue.[53]

The curse controversy

Superstitions, publicity, marketing

The Hope Diamond in the National Gem Collection with its setting.

The Hope Diamond prior to being put in its new setting at the National Gem Collection.

The diamond has been surrounded by a mythology of a reputed curse to the effect that it brings misfortune and tragedy to persons who own it or wear it, but there are strong indications that such stories were not grounded in solid fact and were likely to have been fabricated to enhance the stone's mystery and appeal, since increased publicity usually raised the gem's value and newsworthiness.

According to specious accounts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the original form of the Hope Diamond was stolen from an eye of a sculpted statue of the goddess Sita, the wife of Rama, the seventh Avatar of Vishnu. However, much like the "curse of Tutankhamun", this general type of "legend" was most likely the invention of Western authors during the Victorian era,[55] and the specific legends about the Hope Diamond's "cursed origin" were invented in the early 20th century to add mystique to the stone and increase its sales appeal as well as increase newspaper sales. It fueled speculation that humans possessing the gemstone were fated to have bad luck with varying reports of undetermined veracity. A report in 2006 in The New York Times, however, suggested that "any hard evidence linking it to tragedy has yet to be officially proven."[56]

There is evidence of several newspaper accounts which helped spread the curse story. A New Zealand newspaper article in 1888 described the supposedly lurid history of the Hope Diamond, including a claim that it was "said once to have formed the single eye of a great idol", as part of a confused description that also claimed that its namesake owner had personally "brought it from India", and that the diamond's true color was "white, [although] when held to the light, it emits the most superb and dazzling blue rays."[57] An article entitled "Hope Diamond Has Brought Trouble To All Who Have Owned It" appeared in the Washington Post in 1908.[58] An additional account of the Hope Diamond's "cursed origins" was a fanciful and anonymously written newspaper article in 1909. It was followed by another article in 1911 which detailed a rather lengthy list of supposed cases of ill-fortune but with few confirmations from other sources:

The mainstream academic view is that these accounts are specious and speculative since there are few, if any, independent confirmations or historical scholarship to back them up. A few months later, perhaps compounded by inaccurate reports in The New York Times on November 17, 1909, it was incorrectly reported that the diamond's former owner, Selim Habib, had drowned in a shipwreck of the steamer Seyne near Singapore;[41] in fact, it was a different person with the same name, not the owner of the diamond. There was speculation that jeweler Pierre Cartier further embroidered the lurid tales to intrigue Evalyn Walsh McLean into buying the Hope Diamond in 1911.

The theme of greedy robbers stealing a valuable metal from the tomb or shrine of an ancient god or ruler, and then being punished by it, is one which repeats in many different forms of literature. A likely source of inspiration for the fabrications was the Wilkie Collins' 1868 novel The Moonstone, which created a coherent narrative from vague and largely disregarded legends which had been attached to other diamonds such as the Koh-i-Noor and the Orloff diamond. The theme can be seen in films such as The Mummy as well as stories about the curse of Egyptian king Tutankhamun and in more recent films such as the Indiana Jones films. In keeping with these scripts, according to the legend, Tavernier did not buy the Hope diamond but stole it from a Hindu temple where it had been set as one of two matching eyes of an idol, and the temple priests then laid a curse on whoever might possess the missing stone. Largely because the other blue diamond "eye" never surfaced, historians dismissed the fantastical story.[citation needed] The stories generally do not bear up to more pointed examination; for example, the legend that Tavernier's body was "torn apart by wolves"[11] is inconsistent with historical evidence which shows that he lived to 84 and died of natural causes.

It is possible that the overblown story of the curse, possibly fueled by Cartier and others, may have caused some hesitation on the part of the prospective buyers, the McLeans, around 1911. When a lawsuit between buyer and seller erupted about the terms of the deal, newspapers kept alive reports of the diamond's "malevolent influence" with reports blaming like this one, which blamed the stone's "curse" on having caused, of all things, the lawsuit itself:

The malevolent influence that has for centuries dogged with discord and disaster the owners of the famous Hope diamond has started again and without waste of time, despite special precautions against ill-luck taken at the time of its last sale, according to John S. Wise, Jr., of 20 Broad Street, attorney for Cartiers, the Fifth Avenue jewelers, who are suing Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. McLean for $180,000, its alleged purchase price.

The Hope Diamond was also blamed for the unhappy fates of other historical figures vaguely linked to its ownership, such as the falls of Madame Athenais de Montespan and French finance minister Nicolas Fouquet during the reign of Louis XIV of France; the beheadings of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and the rape and mutilation of the Princesse de Lamballe during the French Revolution; and the forced abdication of Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid who had supposedly killed various members of his court for the stone (despite the annotation in Habib's auction catalog).[11] Even jewelers who may have handled the Hope Diamond were not spared from its reputed malice: the insanity and suicide of Jacques Colot, who supposedly bought it from Eliason, and the financial ruin of the jeweler Simon Frankel, who bought it from the Hope family, were linked to the stone.[11] But although he is documented as a French diamond dealer of the correct era, Colot has no recorded connection with the stone, and Frankel's misfortunes were in the midst of economic straits that also ruined many of his peers. The legend includes deaths of numerous other characters who had been previously unknown: Diamond cutter Wilhelm Fals, killed by his son Hendrik, who stole it and later committed suicide; Francois Beaulieu, who received the stone from Hendrik but starved to death after selling it to Daniel Eliason; a Russian prince named Kanitowski, who lent it to French actress Lorens Ladue and promptly shot her dead on the stage, and was himself stabbed to death by revolutionaries; Simon Montharides, hurled over a precipice with his family.[11] However, the existence of only a few of these characters has been verified historically, leading researchers to conclude that most of these persons are fictitious.

The actress May Yohe made repeated attempts to capitalize on her identity as the former wife of the last Hope to own the diamond, and sometimes blamed the gemstone for her misfortunes. In July 1902, months after Lord Francis divorced her, she told police in Australia that her lover, Putnam Strong, had abandoned her and taken her jewels. In fact, the couple reconciled, married later that year, but divorced in 1910. On her third marriage in 1920, she persuaded film producer George Kleine to back a 15-episode serial The Hope Diamond Mystery, which added fictitious characters to the tale, but the project was not successful. In 1921, she hired Henry Leyford Gates to help her write The Mystery of the Hope Diamond, in which she starred as Lady Francis Hope. The film added more characters, including a fictionalized Tavernier, and added Marat among the diamond's "victims". She also wore her copy of the Hope, trying to generate more publicity to further her career.

Evalyn Walsh McLean added her own narrative to the story behind the blue jewel, including that one of the owners had been Catherine the Great, although there are no confirmations that the Russian ruler ever owned the diamond. McLean would bring the Diamond out for friends to try on, including Warren G. Harding and Florence Harding.

Since the Smithsonian acquired the gemstone, the "curse appears to have gone dormant."[2] Owning the diamond has brought "nothing but good luck" for the nonprofit national museum, according to a Smithsonian curator, and has helped it build a "world-class gem collection" with rising attendance levels.[20]

Related diamonds and artwork

Real diamonds

Koh-i-noor. This rock originated in India but was taken by Britain after the war in 1849 as a "spoil of war" and it has become part of the British crown jewels.[5] Stories surrounding the Koh-i-noor suggest that it brings good luck to female owners and misfortune or death to any male who wears or owns it."[12]

Cullinan Diamond. Found in 1905, the 3,106 carats rock was the "largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found."[5] It was cut into 105 gems, including the Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa, which has 530 carats making it the "largest cut diamond."[5]

Fictitious diamonds

A supposed "diamond" found in South Africa in 2007, supposedly twice the size of the Cullinan, proved to be a "piece of plastic".[60]

Replicas

Gouache of the great Golden Fleece of king Louis XV of France, version 1 of 2008, painted by Pascal Monney (ca. 16 x 6 cms)

Lead cast of the "French Blue" diamond, discovered in 2007 at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle by Farges (ca. 31 x 26 mm)

Computer reconstruction of the "French Blue" diamond, as cut by Pitan for King Louis XIV of France in 1673 (ca. 31 x 25 mm)

In 2007,[61] an important discovery was made which enabled a slew of activity to help scientists, historians and gemologists further explore the history of the Hope Diamond, as well as create replicas of the larger pieces, from which it had been cut, believed to have been owned by eighteenth-century French monarchs. A lead cast of the French Blue diamond was discovered in the gemmological collections of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, reported in a bilingual French–English press release,[62] and the unique finding triggered an investigation by an international team of researchers into the stone's history. It was an important event since previously investigators had to rely on two dimensional sketches of the diamond, but now they had a three dimensional structure with which to apply techniques such as computer-aided drawing analysis. It allowed creation of the first numeric reconstruction of the French Blue including a virtual snapshot video. Even the emblem of the Golden Fleece of Louis XV was numerically reconstructed around the French Blue, including the "Côte de Bretagne" spinel of 107 carats (21 g), the "Bazu" diamond of 32.62 carats (6.52 g), 3 oriental topazes (yellow sapphires), five brillants of up to 5 carats (1,000 mg) brillants and nearly 300 smaller diamonds. Special care was taken to reconstruct the major gemstones precisely by using CAD analysis as well as knowledge of historical gemsetting techniques. As part of the investigation, the "Tavernier Blue" diamond was also reconstructed from the original French edition of Tavernier's Voyages (rather than the later London edition that somewhat distorted and modified Tavernier's original figures), and the Smithsonian Institution provided ray-tracing and optical spectroscopic data about the Hope diamond. These events culminated in an event and a documentary to celebrate the making of these replicas, with celebrations by the French museum including H. Horovitz, Martin du Daffoy who was the historian and jeweller from the Place Vendôme in Paris, as well as directors and leaders from the museum. The event was filmed by Gédéon programmes for a documentary on the French Blue diamond, to be presented by 2011 worldwide.

The lead cast of the French Blue, itself, has a history. It had been catalogued at the French museum in 1850 and was provided by a prominent Parisian jeweler named Charles Archard who lived during the same generation as René Just Haüy, who died in 1822. Most likely, the lead cast was made near 1815, since that was the year that similar entries from the 1850 catalogue had been made. The model was accompanied by a label stating that the French Blue was in the possession of a person known as "Mr. Hoppe of London". Other archives at the Muséum suggests that Achard had Mr. Hope as a good customer for many long years, particularly for blue gems.[63]

These findings have helped investigators piece together what may have happened during the rock's anonymous years during the several decades following 1792. According to one line of reasoning, the first "Hope" to have the "Hope Diamond"––Henry Phillip Hope––might have possessed the French Blue that he had acquired some time after the 1792 robbery in Paris, perhaps around 1794-1795, when the Hopes were believed to have left Holland for London to escape Napoleon's armies.[64] At about the same time, Cadet Guillot, who may have been one of the thieves to have stolen the Golden Fleece, arrived in London.[65] This places Mr. Hope and Mr. Guillot in London at the same time. According to a late nineteenth century historian named Bapts, a contract was made between Cadet Guillot and a French aristocrat named Lancry de la Loyelle, in 1796, to sell the 107-carat (21 g) spinel-dragon of the Golden Fleece. According to this line of reasoning, in 1802 Hope sold his assets, and the continental blockade by Napoleon led the Hope's bank into a serious financial crisis by 1808, and the crisis peaked during the winter of 1811-1812[66] This put Mr. Hope in a financial bind. There is a possibility that, given his financial predicament, Hope pawned the French Blue to jewel merchant Daniel Eliason to get much-needed cash when the British currency, sterling, was highly depreciated.[67] This is consistent with the entry in Eliason's records about having the stone in 1812. However, the diamond's owners may have felt pressure to recut the stone quickly to disguise its identity, since if the French government had learned of its existence, it may have sued the owners for repossession.[63] Regardless of whether Mr. Hope had lost possession or kept it during these years, by 1824 it was again in his possession. It was around this time that Eliason died; Hope's financial situation has been restored thanks to efforts by the Barings, who saved the Hope bank in the difficult financial years of 1812-1820.[67] Accordingly, if this is correct, then the lead cast of the French Blue and the "Hope" diamond are likely to have been created in the same workshop, possibly in London, and probably a little before 1812.

The recreated great Golden Fleece of King Louis XV of France, presented by H. Horovitz (left) and F. Farges (right) at the Hôtel de la Marine, formerly the royal Storehouse in Paris on June 30th, 2010

The lead cast had important ramifications since it gave enough information to curators at the French museum to commission the first exact replicas of both the Tavernier and French Blue diamonds using a material which simulates diamonds called cubic zirconia, with the help of artisans who work with gems known as lapidaries, led by Scott Sucher. These replicas have been completed and displayed with the French Crown Jewels and the Great Sapphire of Louis XIV, a Moghul-cut sapphire of 135.7 carats (27.1 g). Artisans recreated the elaborate piece known as the Golden Fleece of King Louis XV of France, which is arguably the most fabulous work in the history of French jewelry; this happened from 2007–2010. The original Golden Fleece of the Color Adornment, created in 1749 by royal jeweler Pierre-André Jacqumin, was stolen and broken in 1792. The reassembled jewel contained the French Blue and the Bazu diamonds, as well as the Côte de Bretagne spinel and hundreds of smaller diamonds. Three years of work were needed to recreate this jewel, and it required exacting and precise skill which revealed not only the skill of today's lapidaries, but the skill of its original eighteenth-century designers. The reconstructed jewel was presented by Herbert Horovitz, with François Farges of the French museum in attendance, at the former Royal Storehouse in Paris on June 30, 2010, which was the same site where the original had been stolen 218 years before.

Additional recreations were made possible by new discoveries. A previously-unknown drawing of the Golden Fleece was rediscovered in Switzerland in the 1980s, and two blue diamonds that had ornamented the jewel were found as well, and these recent findings enabled artisans to recreate a copy of the emblem.[68] It led to the construction, using cubic zirconia, of a piece that almost exactly resembles[69] the mythic French Blue 69 carats (14 g) masterpiece.

Detailed view of the recreated great Golden Fleece of king Louis XV of France. Below the 107 carats (21 g) spinel Côte de Bretagne hangs the French Blue diamond and the fleece itself, set with hundreds of yellow diamond replicas

The emblem has another great blue diamond, which was later named "the Bazu" in reference to a dealer who reportedly had sold it to Louis XIV in 1669.[70] This Bazu diamond was recut in 1749 as a baroque cushion weighing 32.62 carats (6.52 g). The 1791 inventory mentioned that the Bazu was "light sky blue",[71] which is consistent with the fact that the Golden Fleece of the Color Adornment was made of a variety of great colored gems. Based on documents kept in a private collection,[72] it could be shown that this particular diamond was not hexagonal-shaped, as some historians had previously thought,[73] but was in a shape best described as "rounded squared",[74] similar to the so-called Régent diamond.[69] There is a report that a curator from the French museum will assert that the hexagonal cut from the Bazu is inconsistent historically and gemologically.[citation needed] The Bazu stone referred to another version of Louis XV’s great Golden Fleece, made out of blue sapphires instead of blue diamonds.[72] According to one view, this version appears to have never been manufactured but only suggested to the king as an alternative to the effective final version, bearing two blue diamonds. Nevertheless, replicas of both blue diamonds were cut by Scott Sucher using cubic zirconia, one being colored deep–blue and the other light–blue.

The emblem had a third great gem known as The Côte de Bretagne dragon. Its replica was based on a wax likeness sculpted by Pascal Monney, who had based his recreation from three-dimensional scaled pictures of the original object which had been made by French artist François Farges; Farges, in turn, had seen the original objects displayed at the Louvre's Galerie d’Apollon. In addition, artist Etienne Leperlier cast a "crystal" lead glass duplicate of the wax replica of the carved Côte de Bretagne. Its pigmentation is made out of gold and manganese pigments to simulate as close as possible the original color of the spinel.

The 500-plus remaining replicas of diamonds were cut from cubic zirconia using a baroque cushion cut. Colors were used to recall the original artwork: red for the flames, and yellow for the fleece, and in keeping with the original work, the materials used were initially colorless but were painted in the same fashion used by the artist Jacqumin when the original Golden Fleece was completed in 1749. Since the original was most likely made out of gold plated with silver, a choice was made to use a matrix mostly made out of 925-grade silver to keep costs under control without compromising quality. A number of different artists helped with this project:

The silver matrix was carved by Jean Minassian of Geneva who used historical drawings of the delicate three-dimensional elements of the dragon's wings and tail as well as the palms around which the dragon is suspended.

Casts were made by Andreas Altmann. This will allow even more copies to be made in the future.

Amico Bifulci gilded parts of the matrix to recreate the elegant original gold and silver arrangement of the original.

All stones were set according to 18th century techniques. Finally, a luxury box containing the Golden Fleece was recreated by Frédéric Viollet using crimson-colored Moroccan leather.[75] The box was gilded by Didier Montecot to the arms of Louis XV, using the king’s original iron stamp made by the Simier house.[76] A dark red cramoisi ribbon, made of crimson satin moire, holds the jewel inside the box.

^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadaeafagahaiajakalamanaoapaqar"J.R. M'LEAN'S SON BUYS HOPE DIAMOND; $300,000 for Jewel Owned by Louis XVI. and Worn by Marie Antoinette and May Yohe.". The New York Times. January 29, 1911. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30813F63C5517738DDDA00A94D9405B818DF1D3. Retrieved 2011-07-09. "The famous Hope diamond was sold here to-night to Ned McLean, son of John R. McLean, for over $300,000. The sale was negotiated at Mr. McLean's residence, 2,020 Massachusetts Avenue, by Pierre Cartier, of 712 Fifth Avenue, New York, the American representative of the jewelry firm of Cartier Freres, Paris. ... It is a wonderful stone, as large in its greatest periphery as a good sized horse chestnut, and weights 44 1/2 carats. It is distinguished from all other diamonds, being exquisitely blue in color. Once the property of the Kings of France, worn by Marie Antoinette, and lost for a time after the execution of Louis XVI, it was recently the property of Lord Francis Hope, and was worn by May Yohe, the actress, while she was his wife. The diamond will now be worn by Mrs. McLean as a head ornament arranged in a bandeau, the large stone being placed immediately in front and with other diamonds of lesser size studding the setting bands. ... William Schindele, a former Secret Service man, has been engaged to guard the stone. He in turn will be guarded by Leo Costello and Simeon Blake, private detectives. The stone will be kept at the McLean mansion during the day and each night will be deposited in a safe deposit vault. When Mrs. McLean wears the gem at balls and receptions arrangements have been made to keep the safe deposit building open until after the function that the stone may be safely stored away. A special automobile has been purchased to convey the guards to and from the house to the trust company's building. ... To its owners it has been credited with bringing at different times death, disaster, disgrace, and poverty."

^ abcdefAssociated Press (October 3, 2003). "Hope Diamond still holds allure". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/2003-10-03-hope-diamond_x.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-09. "The Hope Diamond, center, is tested at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum in Washington to try to determine what impurities give it its blue colors. ... By Ron Edmonds, AP ... One of the most visited wonders of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, the gem was out of its security case for scientific study Thursday when curators — tense security guards hovering nearby — allowed a reporter and photographer to briefly hold the famed stone. What does it feel like to hold one of the world's most priceless gems? The first thought that comes to mind is "Wow!""

^ abcde"The Hope Diamond in Full Color". Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. 2011-07-09. http://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/text/2_1_1_2.html. Retrieved 2011-07-09. "Why Is It Blue? Light interacts with an impurity in the diamond to produce the unusual color. As the diamond grew, a few atoms of the element boron entered the crystal structure. The addition of just one boron atom for every million carbon atoms is enough to cause the deep blue color. Blue diamonds are extemely rare. Only about one in 100,000 diamonds is strongly colored, and blue is one of the rarest colors."

^ Note: The $400,000 price may have been exaggerated, since a newspaper report in 1908 was that experts had thought it was inflated, and that the true price at that time may have been closer to the "air bidding price" of $250,000; for further information see NY Times article 1908

^NANCY DEWOLF SMITH (NOVEMBER 19, 2010). "Searching Lennon's Psyche". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704104104575622703876033526.html. Retrieved 2011-07-09. "The "Mystery of the Hope Diamond" comes with an intriguing subtitle: "The secrets, the legends, the curse," and it more or less delivers on its promise. For instance, it explains how nature produced a large blue diamond (45 carats now, possibly 115 to begin with) that fluoresces bright red and may or may not bring horrible suffering to all who own it. Less exciting for traditionalists may be the stone's new necklace setting, which was painstakingly made but gives off a whiff of QVC. Yet the Hope Diamond in its original pendant must have looked fantastic at parties circa the 1920s, when it hung around the neck of owner Evalyn Walsh McLean's Great Dane, Mike."

^THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (April 9, 2010). "Hope Diamond Knockoffs Go to QVC". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/us/09brfs-HOPEDIAMONDK_BRF.html. Retrieved 2011-07-09. "The Smithsonian Institution said Thursday that it had licensed its renowned gem and jewelry collection, which includes the Hope Diamond, to create a line of bracelets, brooches and other baubles that is expected to be sold starting this fall on the TV shopping network QVC. Curators from the National Gem and Mineral Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will help oversee creation of the jewelry line, which will feature primarily costume jewelry and semiprecious stones, but no real diamonds. The Smithsonian, a nonprofit, already has licensing deals for branded furniture, lighting, books and hobby kits based on museum collections."

^"Ancient Mysteries: Curse of the Hope Diamond (2006) (Title: Ancient Mysteries: Curse of the Hope Diamond -- Running Time: 50 Minutes)". The New York Times. 2006. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/340355/Ancient-Mysteries-Curse-of-the-Hope-Diamond/overview. Retrieved 2011-07-09. "The curse of a legendary 45-carat gemstone rumored to have been purchased by a French Merchant in the 1600s after being cut from a larger stone that formed the eye of a Hindu idol is explored in a time-traveling documentary that seeks to reveal the truth behind the menacing mystery of the Hope Diamond. Could it be that the most valuable diamond in the world really suffers from a curse that strikes down all who would come into possession of it? Though a number of strange occurrences have been attributed to its mysterious powers in the centuries since its appearance, any hard evidence linking it to tragedy has yet to be officially proven. Now viewers who wish to explore the fantastic tales surrounding the Hope Diamond can do so in the safety of their own living rooms without fear of supernatural repercussions in this ... that originally aired as part of A&E's popular Ancient Mysteries series. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi"

^ Richard Kurin, Hope Diamond: The Legendary History of a Cursed Gem (HarperCollins, 2006), p364; the article, drawn from the New York Herald and appeared on page 4 of the Posts "Miscellany section"; the caption for the illustration was "Remarkable Jewel a Hoodoo".

Look at other dictionaries:

Hope diamond — a sapphire blue Indian diamond, the largest blue diamond in the world, weighing 44.5 carats and supposedly cut from a bigger diamond that was once part of the French crown jewels: now in the Smithsonian Institution. [after Henry Philip Hope (d.… … Universalium

Hope diamond — a sapphire blue Indian diamond, the largest blue diamond in the world, weighing 44.5 carats and supposedly cut from a bigger diamond that was once part of the French crown jewels: now in the Smithsonian Institution. [after Henry Philip Hope (d.… … Useful english dictionary

Hope (disambiguation) — Hope is a confidence in something desired.Hope may also refer to:* Hope (surname), a family name * Hope (virtue), one of the three theological virtues in Christian tradition * Hope Diamond, a famous diamond * HOPE Scholarship, a university… … Wikipedia